Jesus Chooses 12 Disciples, Teaches, Heals--Luke 6:12-19

After Jesus rebuked the religious leaders who criticized Jesus for helping people on the Sabbath, Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, on the next day chose 12 disciples, then taught and healed a great crowd of people. Luke relates this in Luke 6:12-19, which falls into two paragraphs.

I. Jesus Chooses the Twelve. Luke 6:12-16.
a. During the days that Jesus was reacting to the critical religious leaders in Galilee, Jesus went out to the mountain to pray. The Bible does not specific which mountain appears here. Jesus spent all night in prayer with his heavenly Father. Throughout Luke, Jesus often prays when a significant situation existed. In preparation for choosing 12 people as his disciples, Jesus spent all night in prayer. Any time we confront serious situations, it is imperative that we first spend much time in prayer. 6:12.
b. The next morning, Jesus called his disciples and selected 12 people whom he also named "apostles." According to the Bible, "apostles" are people sent out. They are emissaries or witnesses to what they heard and saw that Jesus said and did. See
1 Corinthians 9:1; 15:5, 8; Galatians 1:15-16. These are the people Jesus chose that they would proclaim God's message to the world after Jesus' death. 6:13.
c. Luke now lists the 12 people in three groups of four each.
1. Simon, whom Jesus named Peter (see 5:8; Mark 3:16; Matthew 16:16-19); Andrew, brother of Simon Peter; James and John, sons of Zebedee (see 5:10; Mark
3:17; Matthew 10:2).
2. Philip; Bartholomew (see Acts 1:13); Matthew; and Thomas.
3. James, son of Alphaeus [not James the Little in Mark 15:40; and not James the brother of the Lord in Galatians 1:19; 1 Corinthians 15:6]; Simon, who was called the Zealot [a Zealot was an individual Palestinian Jew who opposed the Roman occupation of Palestine]; Judas son of James [see Acts 1:13]; and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor to Jesus. "Iscariot" is a Greek transliteration from Hebrew, "Ish-Keriot," which means "a man from Keriot," a village about 12 miles south of Hebron in Judah. 6:14-16.

II. Jesus Teaches and Heals People in a Great Crowd. Luke 6:17-19.
a. After choosing his twelve disciples on the unnamed mountain, Jesus and they went down and stood on a level place with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. People in the crowd from Tyre and Sidon were Phoenicians, thus pagans, and Jesus taught and healed them. See Acts 21:3, 7; 27:3. Jesus, in imitation of his Father and Creator, is concerned about all people, not just his chosen people. 6:17.
b. The crowds came to Jesus for two purposes: (1) to hear what Jesus was teaching; (2) to be healed of their diseases. Jesus did this, curing people who were troubled with unclean spirits. Jesus is carrying out his mission to teach and to heal. 6:18.
c. All the people in the crowd were trying to TOUCH Jesus, because power came out from Jesus and he healed all of them. Jesus' power comes from God the Father. God alone can heal people. 6:19.

Jesus' mission is a great example for all his followers. May we learn deeply from his example.

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John Willis